Shotgun.



No. 797,345. PATENTE?) AUG. i5, 1905. P. H. GOKEROET.

SHOTGUN. n APPLIOATIQN mun PEB. 1a, w04.

n vento:

-NTTE STATE@ arena? onirica.

SHQTSUN.

Specification of-Letters Patent.

Application filed February 18, 1904. Serial No. 194,232.

Patented Aug., 15, ieee.l`

Be it known that l. FRANK HAMPTON (Jonnnor, acitizen of the United States,.residing at Woodlawn, in the county of Jefferson and State 'of Alabama, have invented new and use- 'ful improvements in Shotguns, of which the following is a specification.

l My invention relates vto improvements in Shotguns, and hasfor its object to provide an attachment which may be economically manufactured and easily' applied whereby the same gun may be successfully used for diierent kinds of shooting, either to spread or successfully scatter the shot, as is desirable for close quick shooting., or to bunch the shot for distance shooting. In hunting, the desirabiiity of being able to change the gun to adapt it to these different kinds of shooting has long been felt, and in double-barreled guns the two barrels have been made dierently, so that one would scatter the shot more than the other; but in connection with single-barreled shotguns of the repeating or magazine type, to which my invention more particularly relates, the same barrel must be -utilized for both kinds of shooting, so it becomes necessary to provide some means of adjusting or aitering this barrel to adapt the gun to different kinds of work. I Y

Vith this object .in View I provide a muz zie-piece having a slightly-'centracted bore toward its discharge end 'and a screw-threaded. inner end by which it may be connected to the end of the barrel of the gun when it is de- `ired to have .the shot carry a distance before scattering. Vihen this piece is detache the gun will scatter the shot well at close range, which is desirabie, as in the case of bird-shoot'- ing in close brush.`

My invention further comprises the construction and arrangements of parts hereinafter described, reference being had to the aecompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, in which# Figure 1 is a side elevation of a shotgun for ordinary use with a muzzle-cap screwed ,on the end of the barrel to protect-the threads. Fig. 2 is an enlarged Abroken-away sectional -View of the muzzle .in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows the gun provided with my muzzle-piece or extension. Fig. i is an enlarged sectional view through Fig. 3. Figs. 5. 6, and 7 are top plan viewsof the muzzle, cap, and-eXtension-piece, showing the notches', which must tally to insure the fore-sight, carried by the removable parts, being in its proper position.

In the drawings the same reference-numeri als refer to the same parts throughout.

The gun 1 may be of any desired type construction, but is preferablyfa'single-lian reled magazine-gun havingy a barrelQand magazine 3. The end of the barrel is reduced to have a shoulder aand an eXternally-scre'wl threaded portion 5. 6, which is internally threaded and'of-awidth and diameter to engage portion' 5 ofthe bar# rel and forms an end therefor whichy'strength'L ens the reduced end of the barrel, protectsthe threads, and fits flush against' shoulder/'fi'. This cap is adapted to lill out the'reduced portion of the barrel when screwed home, so that it is not noticeable and in no wise interferes with the use orattractive appearance of 'the gun. The sight 7 is carried by the cap, and to malte sure that the cap will always be screwed home, so that this foresight willfall properly in line with the breechsight., I notch the edge of shoulder 4 at 8 and the cap at 9. :When these two notches are in-'alinernent, the sight is properly disposed.

Tf now it be desired to use the gun for shoot-` ing requiring the shot. to be well hunched and to carry a distance-without scattering, I provide a muzzle yextension-piece 10, which is internally cut away to form a threaded end 'portion 11, which is notched at 12 and adapted to engage the threaded end portion 5 `in the same manner as cap 6. When screwedhomej as shown in Fig. 4, the bore of this/exten?y sion-piecev forms a continuation of the bone of barrel 1 to the point 13, where r"it coinmences to contract .slightly and continues to decrease in cross-sectional area to vits discharge end 14. This acts to bunch the shot and prevents their scattering, asis the case when this extension-piece is not used. By

preserving the bore of a barrel to the point 13 in the extension before contracting the lbore of the latter part I gain a material ad-k vantage in removing the point of strain from the joint ybetween the parts. Experiments have proven that where the choking of the extension-piece commences at this joint with the muzzle the former part is frequently blown off from the barrel. This contraction of the bore of piece 10, which will be slight,

vis shown somewhat exaggerated in the drawings for the'sakeof illustration. This piece vwill carry a sight 15 near its end. The width of the cut-away portion of piece`10-is carefully calculated to cause the end of portion 5 j to abut against the shoulder 16 of said piece I provide a muzzle-cap when the notches 8 and 12 tally. 'In`this' manner there will be no rough place or break in thebore, which will be uniform through- 'out except at the contracted end of the' extension-piece.

It will be evident that the cap and piecel l0 can be manufactured at a comparativelysmall cost and readily 'carried and exchanged as occasion mayrequire, and at the same time -the appearance of the gun is not affected nor itscost material-ly increased, thoughlits availability and value will be greatly enhanced.

Having thus described my invention, what I'claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

'l'. In a shotgun, the combination with the barrel thereof which has a reduced threaded end portion with which a muzzle extensionpiece is adapted to engage, of a screw-cap which engages the threaded end of said barrel flush with the surface thereof, and asight carried by said cap, as and for the purposes described. 2., In a shotgun having a barrel reduced at its outer end and adapted to have arnuzzle In testimony W hereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscrlbing wltnesses.

RANK HAMPTON cQKERorr Witnesses:

R. D. JOHNSTON, E. J. MCGROSSIN. 

